“Well,” Mia said, biting her lips. She stared at the sanitised empty syringe mom got her for what would come next. “Time for dinner I guess?”
Carmilla gulped, looking every bit like an emaciated street kid with a bag of fast food dangled before her eyes.
“Want me to do it?” Helene asked, patting Mia on the back soothingly.
“Uh, yes please,” Mia said, quickly handing over the pointy implement and turning her head away.
“Don’t worry dear, I’ve nurse training,” Helene said calmly, taking Mia’s arm into her own as she sat down next to her on the sofa. “I’ve done this hundreds of times. I’ll be quick.”
She was not, in fact, quick. Not in Mia’s mind at least, she felt every split second the syringe spent piercing her skin and sucking out her blood like it was an eternity.
She’d always hated the feeling of having her blood taken like this, but maybe that was mostly because she had a few too many experiences with horribly incompetent nurses that took five tries to find her veins.
Sure, her veins were maybe a bit harder to see than most peoples, but that didn’t mean you had to fuck it up so bad you scraped her bones with the syringe.
“Done,” Helene said, pulling the metallic torture device out of Mia’s arm before holding a little fluff of cotton up against the puncture wound.
“Wait, let me test out this ring!” Mia exclaimed, almost instinctively pushing the mental ‘manual activation’ button for the enchantment.
Taking off the cotton swab, she watched in fascination as the little bead of blood forming atop her wound rapidly scabbed over before falling off. Underneath it, her skin was pristine and without as much as a scar.
“Huh,” Mia started, caressing the newly healed bit of skin with a thumb. “Cool.”
“Carmilla, do you want me to get you a glass or … ?” Helene asked, getting back to business while her daughter poked curiously at her skin.
“No!” Carmila startled, snapping out of a momentary daze. Her eyes were locked onto the quarter-filled syringe though, and at the … glimmering blood in it.
“Mia, why does your blood have glitter in it?” Helene asked in wonder as she took the metal tip off the syringe and handed the rest over to the drooling vampiress.
Carmilla latched onto it like it was a precious gem, she fumbled a bit even still as she raised it to her lips and took the tip into her mouth.
“What glitter?” Mia blinked, finally looking up at her mother, then over to Carmilla. “Huh? That’s weird … I have no idea.”
Carmilla pushed the blood into her mouth, letting out a guttural groan of pleasure as the last bit got squeezed out of the syringe. The girl had her eyes closed and wobbled a bit even sitting down as she was.
Her body quivered, then shifted. Skin stretched, atrophied muscles grew at visible speed and the girl filled out before their eyes. Her sunken cheeks filled up, her dying hair turned vibrant, and her skeletal form lost its edges in return for supple curves.
Carmilla’s clothes that hung loosely on her emaciated frame just moments ago now stretched tightly against her curves. Mia could only stare as the vampiress went through years' worth of bulking up and regular work-outs in just a few seconds.
A soft crimson glow shone through from underneath her skin, and for a split second Mia could see every single vein in Carmilla’s body.
Then it was over, and the vampiress slumped back like a puppet with its strings cut. Her head smacked against the back of the sofa as her body practically melted into it with a contented dopey smile on her now full lips.
Mia couldn’t help herself, she stared, her mother having to push her open jaw close with a finger so she wouldn’t embarrass herself too much.
Holy shit. Mia thought, her eyes gaining a life of their own as they roamed over the redheaded girl’s body. Suddenly, she felt really stupid for thinking of Carmilla as a teen or even as just a child.
There was nothing childish about her now, and Mia quickly pushed the girl’s suspected age up by five years in her head. Damn, she really must have been close to starving to death.
Carmilla’s eyes fluttered open, her crimson orbs glowing with delight in the low light of the living room. Her lips stretched into a beatific smile. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Then her eyes drooped, closing once more with her head lulling to the side. Not five seconds later, she was snoring softly as she slowly slipped further and further towards the headrest.
“Well, that was … interesting,” Helene noted in a whisper, her eyes just as wide as Mia as she looked at the sleeping vampiress.
“Uhuh,” Mia made a dumb sound, her brain still trying to reconcile the image of the emaciated ‘kid’ she saved with the gorgeous vampire snoring before her.
“What did you even do to get that girl so enthralled with you?” Helene asked, nudging Mia with an elbow as her lips quirked up in amusement.
“I- uh,” Mia swallowed, trying to get at least a few wheels turning in her head again. It was probably only due to her much increased Will stat that she succeeded. “We found her in a … really bad shape. I thought she was already dead. Still, I- uhm, I gave her my healing Elixir.”
Mia conveniently left out the part where Carmilla almost killed her in a panic. She knew her mother, and she knew how she’d react to learning that. I don’t want her to hate Carmilla.
Of course Mia understood why her mother would react like that, losing Gabe just a year ago was still fresh on her mind. Knowing that she’d almost lost another child might make her … rash, or more likely absolutely livid with the one who almost killed her daughter.
Carmilla doesn’t deserve to face that. The poor girl was just trying to survive.
“So you saved her life,” Helene said with a warm look, pulling Mia in for a hug. “I’m proud of you Mia. You did good.”
“Thanks,” Mia said, a bit uncomfortable as she hugged her mother back. Okay, time to change the topic. “You said you’d tell me what you got turned into once we were alone?”
“I did,” Helene said, rolling her eyes a bit as she glanced over at the vampire now draped over the sofa like a cat. “We’ll talk more about the girl later, you are not allowed to fumble this one. Understood?”
“What?” Mia blinked, uncomprehending. Did she really mean what I think she did? But … ughhh. I thought she was just a teen minutes ago, and she totally acted like it too. What the hell. … she looks twenty-five now though.
“Hopeless,” Helene whispered under her breath as she shook her head softly. What? “Anyway, you were curious about what I got turned into, weren’t you? Jealous of my wings?”
“Yes,” Mia said with a pout, though she was still mostly just curious rather than jealous. Not that she didn’t already dream of flying around once she got Force magic powerful enough to accomplish it. “Also … you got younger?”
“I did,” Helene preened, flicking a lock of wavy white hair behind her shoulder. “I suppose that came with the race. The interface says it’s called ‘Stormborn Pegasus’.”
“Pegasus?” Mia frowned, looking her mother up and down again. “Like? The winged horses?”
“Mhmm,” Helene agreed. “Though the only thing I have right now are the wings and a few Traits. What about you? I don't remember you liking pink this much.”
“I’m a Halvyr,” Mia said, giving the abridged version of what she knew of her new race.
“I think it suits you,” Helene said with a motherly smile. “You look adorable, and those ears are just the icing on the cake. I think it might have done something to your facial structure too … you look much more huggable now.”
“Thanks … ?” Mia set her lips into a thin line, trying to decide whether she was happy with that assessment or not. In the end, she couldn’t do anything about it, so she just shrugged.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Yep. It’s a good thing. Let’s take being ‘adorable’ and ‘huggable’ to mean I look more approachable and friendly now. Yep, that’s good.
“You’re welcome honeybun,” Helene said, giving Mia a quick peck on the forehead before slumping back onto the bed. “We should get some sleep now, it seems to me your new friends are aching to get back into the action.”
“You say that like you haven’t somehow managed to outlevel all of us,” Mia grumbled. “I bet you were knee deep in monster guts every single day.”
“Do you trust them by the way?” Helene asked, whispering to Mia as she laid down next to her mother.
“Well, I do fully trust Mark,” Mia said slowly, thinking the question over seriously. “Lina saved my life a fair few times I think, but she really just wants to get strong almost obsessively so I don’t know. Brent is … I thought he was a bit of an ass at first, but he stood up for me when I was in danger and has been making sure all of us survived ever since.”
Helene hummed, rolling onto her back as she stared up at the ceiling. “And your little vampiress?”
“I trust Carmilla as a person,” Mia said, taking in a quick breath. “But I’m not sure whether I trust her to control her urges if they ever get stronger. Though I guess the fact that she didn’t just jump me when she was pretty much starving to death is noteworthy too.”
“I sincerely doubt that girl would ever willingly hurt you with the way she looks at you,” Helene murmured. “Do you think eating a lot of garlic would help?”
“She strolled through the scorching midday sunlight,” Mia chortled. “I doubt she’d even blink at me smelling of garlic.”
“Oh well,” Helene said. “Just be careful, alright honey?”
“Sure mom,” Mia said, yawning as all the fatigue from the day’s activities was rapidly catching up with her. “Night?”
“Good night sweetie.”
*****
Mia woke up with a start. She was on her feet with her heart beating out of her chest before her brain even fully woke up. She stood in the middle of the living room in nothing but a pair of shorts and a tank top as adrenaline surged in her veins, banishing every smidge of tiredness from her body.
Her ears twitched, then flattened against her head. She didn’t even need them and their supernatural hearing. She could feel the deep rumblings in the floor underneath her bare feet.
The Familiar, which Mia had honestly forgotten about with how low-key it had been, was up on her shoulder in a blink and busied itself by glaring at the world around it.
“Mia?” Helene woke up only a few seconds later, staring at her daughter in worry. “What are yo-“
“Shhh,” Mia said, dropping to her knees and pressing her ears up against the floor.
The distant reverberations turned into monotonous thundering rumblings. Thousands of tonnes of steel, rolling forth on the streets. There were hundreds.
Mia jumped up, her ear ringing. A few seconds later she could push her focus through the noise, and search for what else hid underneath it.
Thunderous cracks, explosions, shouts, screams, but mostly the first three. Mia knew those cracks. Gunshots. Fully automatic rifles.
“I think the military is here,” she said with a gulp. “Or the goblins figured out how to make rifles and tanks overnight.”
“I can hear it too,” Carmilla said, appearing next to Mia in her own set of dishevelled nightclothes.
Mia found herself distracted by how different the whole ‘feel’ of the girl was. Even her voice sounded more lively and laced with power now.
Or maybe Mia was just much more conscious of the vampiress.
“How are you feeling?” Mia asked once she was sure the sounds of fighting were coming from far away. She glanced at Carmilla, forcing herself to only look at her face.
“Awesome,” the vampiress practically purred, the wide smile on her face curving her eyes into crescents. “I’d never felt so strong, so alive. Neither did I ever have a body quite like … this.”
As the redhead looked herself over, she seemed just as wonderstruck as Mia had been when first seeing it the night before.
“Girls, focus!” Helene said, now on her feet as she walked over to the front windows and pulled the blinders apart. “What-“
A large, armoured humvee in forest green paint rolled down the street. Its windows were shaded so the insides couldn’t be seen, but Mia heard the weight of the vehicle as it crushed the asphalt under its tires.
It was gone in less than a second, then a large truck in the same colouring rolled by.
“Well, it seems our plans just went down the drain,” Helene said dryly as she stared after the vehicles. Then continued under her breath. “Perhaps for the best.”
“True that,” said Brent, rushing down the stairs as he stared out the window too for a moment before he quickly got to arming and armouring himself. Obviously not having heard the second part of Helene’s remark. “Shit.”
Lina and Mark followed after the man, both looking halfway between drowsy and alert in a way only getting woken up by a surge of adrenaline could accomplish.
“Wow,” Mark said as he noticed Carmilla, his thought seemingly going down the drain instantly.
Lina kicked him in the shin, though Mia noticed the blonde too checked out the vampiress with a level of envy in her gaze. Yep. She’s straighter than an arrow.
*****
Carmilla could barely keep up with her body, now that it was finally working as it should. She thought it was when she woke up in that coffin, but now that she felt fully satiated for the first time in her life, she understood how clueless that assumption had been.
She’d been literally running on fumes, working off of scraps, with barely enough lifeforce in her body to keep it from starting to rot.
[Blood Bank (lifeforce stores): 110%]
[Attributes are once again fully in effect.]
Slowly, gently. Carmilla told herself, using every shred of will she had to control her body. Thankfully, she assigned quite a few points into every mental Sub Attribute so she managed. Barely.
Now that all of her Body Sub Attributes were actually working, she was one wrong move away from hurting someone really badly.
Why? Well, all three of her Base Body stats were at 10. On top of that, Strength and Agility had another 10 in Gained Attributes, making the total 20 in both.
And I can still get five more Base Attributes in those two. Only Flexibility maxed out at 10.
Unlike Brent’s strength and Sam’s speed, Carmilla’s didn’t stem from her Class or any body enhancement, it was all pure stats. Well, that and her vampiric nature, but the two were practically the same with Bloodline Trait granting her all those Attributes.
For the first time, Carmilla felt her mana pool and the slowly revolving runic-model at the center of it. It was a beautiful thing, yet so simple. Just half a dozen shapes and at most fifty runes held in long twisting arms that orbited the construct and yet it would finally, finally allow her to use magic. Only while I have my Blood Bank above 100% though. Even just a single percent under it would leave my Spirit too destabilised to actually wield mana.
That was the downside of being a vampire, always having to push an expiration date back bit by bit. Even now, Carmilla instinctively knew that if she didn’t feed again, her body would start to rot in two weeks. Then fully fall apart a few days after that.
She wasn’t going to vaporise under the sunlight now, but as with most folklore, that story had an element of truth to it. It was lifeforce that kept her safe from the rays of the sun, and once it ran out … well, she was going to go poof if she didn’t keep to the shadows.
I have 10% above the minimum. That’s … three days of being in top condition, or about ten Blood Bolts.
Carmilla took a quick glance at the pink-haired girl frowning into the aether with her ears giving an occasional twitch. Her blood had been just as good as she’d hoped, if not better. Not even in her faintest dreams did she think drinking just a mouthful of it would revitalise her so much.
Neither did she expect how delicious she would taste.
A part of her, probably the bloodthirsty vampiric part that she inherited from her ancestors, was urging her to lock the girl in a basement and use her as a blood slave. Hell, she had memories of more than one of her ancestors doing just that with someone whose taste they took a fancy to.
There were a dozen and one ways to do it too, from making the girl addicted to her bite to a bloodcurse that would kill her if the vampire who inflicted it on her hadn’t bitten her in a while.
Nasty things, one and all.
Carmilla crushed that urge like always. She hated nothing more than turncoats, and the last thing she was going to do was to bite the hand that was feeding her. Quite literally, in this instance.
Only if she lets me. She thought, thinking back on her conversation with the girl yesterday. Carmilla could have lied, told her that her bite would do nothing to her, but she didn’t.
Instead, she shared what her bite would do if she held back on the nasty properties of it as much as possible. She didn’t lie, but she hadn’t been entirely honest either.
It made her feel horrible, but the thought of the girl telling her to go away was just too horrible of an alternative.
Not that she ever intended to do anything to Mia. But telling someone all the things her bite could actually do would horrify even a psychopath, not to mention an innocent little soul like Mia. Carmilla didn’t want to be hated, Mia was the first person to lend her a helping hand when she was down on the lowest ditch of her life.
Carmilla wanted to stay with her, maybe even make a friend for the first time in her life.
Noticing Mia staring at her, Carmilla tilted her head as she returned the gaze. “What’s up?”
“N-nothing, sorry,” Mia replied quickly before she bounced away, deciding that an unassuming potted plant in the corner was in a sudden need of a thorough examination.
What? Carmilla wondered, staring after the girl with a frown. That shy attitude was new, as were the looks and glances the girl sent her way. Maybe Mia thought she was being stealthy, but Camilla was a vampire, she could feel gazes on her like a physical touch. What’s that about? … it started once I woke up this morning. Is something wrong with my renewed body? There shouldn’t be. Hmmm.
It’s kinda cute though. Carmilla blinked in surprise as the thought rolled through her mind unbidden.
She shook it off, deciding to just ignore it for now. They had to remake their plans and somehow factor in the dozens, if not hundreds, of tanks rolling through the streets of Graz and the thousands of armed soldiers who were doubtlessly already engaging the monsters.